Exodus
by Sqrrl
Summary: Set two years before the events of Date A Live, Exodus is a spirit capable of wiping entire towns off the map, but as Tobiichi digs deeper. Something seems off, is Exodus really the cause of these ghost towns or is a much greater force at work here
1. Ghost Town

"Another ghost town," as the Lieutenant guided his squad through the empty buildings, he couldn't help but feel tension in the air, "The buildings look unharmed, which would mean there wasn't a fight, but where is everyone?"

The town was considered quite small, with a mere population of two thousand, but it wasn't the first to face such dilemmas. Ever since that spacequake twenty years ago, such strange happenings were occuring all over the world.

The entire town looked untouched as they moved slowly towards the centre of town they didn't come across a single person.

"Sir, look up there!" Pointing at the centre they could see a lone figure standing on top of a light post, the figure appeared to be a female, "Could it really be a survivor?" This was news to them all, in the three previous incidents not a single survivor was found, maybe now they could find the truth.

"You there, are you hurt?" The figure turned to face them, in its right hand it held an orb, an orb of pure darkness. "Do you know what happened here? What caused this?"

"I don't know," she was crying, she really seemed to be crying, "I was just here a few days ago, but I found the town like this, this shouldn't be happening, they should all be here, asleep."

She turned towards them, her eyes suddenly hostile, "You must have taken them, they were such nice people too." Raising her orb the entire ground around them turned dark, screaming as they were pulled into the blackness, the Lieutenant could only watch as they were dragged in, "You will pay for this, your lives will feed my angel."

* * *

(eight year later)

"Welcome to the squad, your name is?" the person appeared the same age as her, her welcome attitude could mean something more sinister, mutiny?

"Tobiichi Origami." she continued to walk down the hall, for some reason she continued to tail her.

"Are you new to the AST as well, I just joined as well, I was hoping maybe we could be friends?" the girl in question had brown hair, though it was a bit longer than hers, it was tied at the top with two yellow ribbons.

"Oh I almost forgot, my name is Mikie Okamine, how old are you Tobiichi, wow that's about the age as I am, is your hair naturally that white, do your parents know you work here."

"My parents are dead." Mikie seemed taken aback at this, she backed a little her head tipped downwards.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," she looked quite ashamed, deciding it would be best not to create hostile relations with her fellow squadmates, Tobiichi decided to comfort her.

"It's fine, there was no way you could've known" Mikie seemd a little happier, stepping a little closer they continued their conversation, although she seemed a lot more careful with her questions.

* * *

"So Tobiichi, have you ever seen spirits before?" as the squad moved on her first spirit interception, Tobbichi kept herself as calm as possible, though her hands itched to tear their target to shreds. "Tobiichi? You there?"

"No." As they took a sharp right to follow the air currents to save fuel, their target began to appear over the horizon. The town they were targeting was one that had been hit by a spirit called Exodus, it was said to be her first appearance in 8 years.

Tobiichi watched closely, the spirit seemed to have cast a spell on the entire town, the scanners said spirit energy was being focused to one point, in the centre of town. "All units, fire missile barrage at target, releasing the barrage, Tobbichi followed one of the other members as they spread into two man teams to surround the target.

"No flames, probably isn't that one..." as their missiles impacted the target, they were all stopped by the shields the target had cast. As the darkness over the town started to fade the spirit rose into the air.

"Engage the target now," firing off in short bursts the target seemed to screech in annoyance, drawing out two weapons she began returning fire at them. "Squad keep your territories up, don't let those bullets hit you."

Close by she could see one of them hadn't set up a territory, focusing instead on firing entire barrages onto the enemy, the spirit seemed to notice it as well, focusing both weapons on her, she released a swift barrage aimed at her Wiring Suit.

Seeing an explosion at her back, she watched as she tumbled through the air towards the ground, diving straight for her Tobiichi deactivated her own territory to put more power to flight. "What the hell are you doing, keep your territories up."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see the spirit take aim at her, she would have to swerve to dodge, continuing stright forward she braced herself. Then the spirit turned away, choosing instead to focus the barrage onto other members, had she decided she couldn't hit her? No, not likely.

Focusing back on her goal she drove herself even further, blocking out all other factors she dived straight for the plummeting squad mate, catching her well off the ground. Surprised to find that it was Mikie who she had just saved.

"The spirit, it's getting away." Tobiichi turned to see the spirit move away from the town, using a quick dive, she broke through a hole created by her barrage and disappeared into the hills. Several members flew after her, lowering their territories when another barrage came from the spirits direction. Stopping to protect themselves their scanners lost track of the spirit.

* * *

"For your first time facing this spirit the AST has performed extraordinarily, chasing the spirit out of the zone with zero casualties. Mikie smiled at her, Tobiichi nodded back and faced the front again. "The spirt you engaged is an A-class spirit, we wouldn't expect a newly formed special force to be able to engage such a target yet, so chasing it away is already quite impressive." The other seated guests applauded, though Tobiichi didn't agree, the spirit was still alive, they had failed.

"Now as seeing it may return, we have decided to brief you on what intel we have on it so far." The spirit appeared on the screen, dressed in a black dress, the rest of her body seem bare and exposed. "From reports it says she wields an orb of some sort in her right hand, though it seems she may have changed to a dual pistol style of combat."

"Though as you have reported a barrage type attack system this may suggest a low magazine sized high fire rate pistol, though such model exists it may a custom made weapon infused with her powers to give her magazines automatic refill as well as increased velocity and power."

Footage was broadcast of town in the same situation as she had seen, "These are satellite images, as you can see the entire town seems to be under some kind of spell, probably based on her powers. We suspect it may have something to do with the manipulation of shadows."

"Exodus is a highly dangerous spirit, highly capable in long range combat with strong shields and her dual pistol combo, but what makes her a real threat is her ablility to wipe out the population of entire towns."

Three four images came up on screen, each of ghost town. "Four sites hit, with total casualties at five thousand." Tobiichi gritted her teeth, it was just like what happened to her, an entire town's population mercilessly killed with no clear motive. "In the last site, Exodus engaged with millitary forces that went on search and rescue, not a single member survived."

Turning off the screen flooded the room into darkness, as the lights faded on another spacequake alert was broadcast. "It seems like we're just in time, you better get going, it seems like another attack by Exodus."

* * *

The second time around Exodus was far closer, when they arrived they found themselves in another town, the population had evacuated and it looked like Exodus was preparing to leave. "So she attacks nearby cities, areas that haven't been evacuated."

Exodus drew out both of her pistols, aiming straight for the squad released a barrage before backing away. Spreading out to evade the squad split into two teams and pursued.

"Fire missiles," releasing the barrage in synchrony they used the missiles as physical shields, tailing them towards their target, as Exodus fired upon the missiles destroying each one, they charged straight through the smoke to release a burst of bullets at the target.

Fixing her shield up Exodus was unable to destroy about five missiles, impacting at almost the same time, her shield seemed to waver for a second. Tobiichi drew her energy sword and charged straight ahead at her.

Breaking through the shield, she made a quick slash at her neck. Parrying it with one of pistols, Tobbichi quickly switched targets to the second one, knocking it out of the way before she could fire, though it grazed her leg she continued to thrust forward, forcing Exodus out to the right.

Supporting fire from the other members of the squad once again forced Exodus to raise up her shield, giving Tobiichi another strike at her. This time swinging with both hands she knocked the right pistol out, as it tumbled downwards, Exodus released three rounds aimed at her head, injured leg and Wiring Suit right wing.

Raising her territory to block all three Tobiichi slashed forward, Exodus backed off releasing another three rounds. Seeing a chance, Tobiichi repeated her previous movement, as she expect Exodus backed off, releasing her blade it spun through the air towards her setting up her shield to block the airborne blade.

Flying forward Tobiichi released a swift missile barrage aimed at her back, switching focus backwards Exodus blocked the blow, Tobiichi grabbed the blade out of the air slashing it across her chest. As it tore straight through her flesh, Exodus tumbled to the ground, seemingly unconscious.

"Alright, prepare a missile barrage at the target's estimated location." Tobiichi ignoring orders dived straight down, landing among the empty streets there was no sign of her. Then she could feel herself sinking into the ground, setting up her territory as an anchor, she struggled to stay above ground.

"I'm really sorry about this." Exodus fired two shots at her right arm, as Tobiichi could feel it tear bone apart forcing her to drop her blade. Then out from the right a third person fired two shots, knocking the pistol out of Exodus's hand.

Backing off, another figure emerged into the clearing, in its right hand it held a pistol, but its left arm up to the elbow was a singular blade. Exodus, still injured from Tobiichi disappeared into the shadows, leaving Tobiichi alone with the figure.

"Are you still alive?" She nodded, the figure approached and helped her stand, "My name is Robert Bailey, 2nd lieutenant of DEM industries." The figure appeared to be male, somehow he had a wiring suit, which shouldn't have been possible. "I'll be staying around this area for the next few days."


	2. The Death of a 'Terrorist'

2nd lieutenant Robert Bailey, Tobiichi watched the man very closely, although they were in the centre of AST headquarters, she couldn't help but feel great suspicion towards him.

"They say he's some kind of prodigy," Mikie leaned closely to her right ear, though her voice was loud enough to hear from quite some distance, "One of the few males on the entire planet who is able to use a wiring suit, I wonder how he does it."

He seemed to walk over, smiling as best he could. "Well I was not actually born able to use Wiring Suit, I'm part of the DEM reconstruction project, by injecting magic directly into the bloodstream." Raising his left arm which was missing at the elbow, "Though sacrificies had to be made, they say they cut off my left arm and used it to produce the magic that healed me, though I'm not complaining, as long as I live I will serve DEM for what they've done for me."

Tobiichi stood up to meet him eye to eye, he was a little shorter than him, but he looked young, too young, "Thank you for saving me back there." She gave a small bow, then walked straight out of the room, Mikie hurried after her.

"Hey, what are you doing, any ordinary human would find this kind of behavior very rude." She pulled on her turning Tobiichi around to face her, "You don't seem very grateful for him saving your life."

"He's not an ordinary human, that much is clear," Turning around she walked off, she was going to dig deeper, there must be some secrets that he was hiding.

* * *

"From today onwards I will be leading this squad in any pursuits into the target Exodus, until Exodus is removed from this region." He smiled at the entire squad scanning his eyes over every single one of them slowly, "Its a miracle none of you have died yet, Exodus must be getting lazy."

* * *

As the squad approached the site, Tobiichi began to hate Robert even more, seeing as Exodus was not the target they were engaging he had decided that he wanted no involvement in the following task.

"I really wish the wings would be a little smaller, its hard to steer on these things," Mikie wobbled in the air next to her, "I heard DEM has a new model prepared, calling it the... the."

"CR unit."

"Ah, CR units, do you think they might be much better? They say it can just attach onto the wiring suits, replacing these wings." The target they were headed for was a small terrorist group. Normally local military or police would deal with this, but scanners had picked up small amounts of magic, which meant that there was a wizard among their ranks.

"This is your final waring, you are now approaching in private airspace, leave now or prepare to be fired upon." As planned the entire squad grouped up as they approached, setting up their territories, four at the front soaked up the bullets, as they came within ranged, they moved off allowing the rest to return fire on the target.

"Hey, I'm up here." Tobiichi looked up to see what appeared to be another wizard, though here wiring suit seemed to be attached to something else.

"But that's not possible," Mikie had slowed down mid flight, hovering next to her. "That's a CR unit."

"New model, dumbass." She fired upon them, instead of the usual rifle she seemed to be equipped with a sniper, Tobiichi watched as the forward part was torn apart, spiralling towards the ground, "Engage immediately." Under her command terrorists crashed out, firing upon the remaining members, tearing the forward party apart.

"Heh, and here I was thinking it might be quite difficult, looks the AST is still pretty shit." Tobiichi decided to draw her sword and charge straight for her. Utilizing the fact that a sniper would require time to aim, she prepared for that moment.

"Pretty damn insane aren't you?" Throwing the rifle aside the terrorist drew her own sword, Tobiichi suddenly increased acceleration as she thrusted forward. Only to watch her sidestep and slash her right wing apart. Which shouldn't have been possible, how could she move right without turning, "Oh, did I forget to mention, this CR unit uses magic, it's more like hovering than flying."

Diving after her she laughed like a lunatic as they traded blows, though every strike brought Tobiichi closer to the ground until she impacted. Landing beside her, the terrorist walked over, "You're not dead yet right? It wouldn't be any fun if you're dead." Standing upright, she could feel her left arm was broken, but she had to ignore it for now.

"How..." Blood, the wound was worse than she though, "How did you acquire a CR unit."

"Oh, DEM gave it to me, almost like a birthday present, they weren't too pleased when I ran off with it though. But you're pretty tough eh? Most people would be crying their heads off with an injury like that." She smiled, slashing forward she knocked the blade out of her hand.

"Ah, this is not fun at all, if I kill you now all I have left is a bunch of trigger happy cowards," She walked closer, kicking hard at her right leg, her entire knee snapped backwards as she crumpled to the ground.

Gasping in pain Tobiichi collapsed to the ground, her right leg bent the wrong way. "The name's Sarah Dunnigahn, remember it, next time we fight, I want to hear you scream it for mercy." Sarah walked off, leaving Tobiichi half dead on the ground, blacking out from blood loss.

* * *

Tobiichi woke up in the medical ward, the sky was completely dark, looking around she could see Mikie in the corner fast asleep. Sitting up she clenched her fist, "Sarah Dunnigahn." The name stuck in her head.

Reaching down at her leg she gently touch the kneecap, feeling no pain she retracted, glad that it wasn't anything permanent.

"Mikie are you awake?" She didn't seem to stir, "Mikie? Mikie."

Her eyes shot open at once, jumping to her side Tobiichi saw that her eyes were red, probably from crying. "Tobiichi, oh, I'm so glad you're awake, when they found you, there was so much blood and your leg." She touched her leg softly, "Does it hurt?"

"I'm fine, what happened after I blacked out?"

Mikie retracted, looking on the verge of tears all over again, "We managed to capture most of the terrorists, although the wizard managed to escape, but we had four casualties." Tobiichi's gaze faltered for a second, only a week had passed and four had already died.

"Reports say that she was using a CR unit, DEM produced apparently. They denied responsibility, saying that it was stolen. Though no identity could be place on her..."

Tobiichi climbed out of bed, heading straight for the door, "Hey where are you going, you're in no shape to be walking around yet."

"Sarah Dunnigahn," Mikie looked puzzled, as the door opened Tobiichi turned her head, "her name is Sarah Dunnigahn."

* * *

"...now as well all have realized the CR unit that was stolen belongs to DEM, I shall personally take responsibility in seeing that it is returned, ah Tobiichi perfect timing, did you bring Mikie along? She seemed reluctant to leave your side."

"Sarah Dunnigahn," at this Robert seemed to flinch, "her name is Sarah Dunnigahn."

"How do you know that name?" Robert lunged at her grabbing her throat, Tobiichi made no move to defend herself. It would be best to conserve air and await assistance, "Tell me! How do you know that name!"

Feeling him release her windpipe Tobiichi shook free, collapsing to the ground she steadied her breathing, "No, it can't be," tears dropped down, was he, crying? "no, no, no." Robert walked back to the centre.

"I'm raising her alert level to S class, all available squad members are to head out immediately." The entire crowd entered a frenzy of silenced wispers, "I said now!" Heading out Robert pushed Mikie aside, ignoring her yells of protest.

Plunged into silence, the entire room stood still. "Well you heard him," Tobiichi stood up addressing the crowd, "he said now."

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" The entire gather around the empty warehouse, Robert stood at the front addressing battle plans.

"Of course, this will depend on Private Tobiichi's capabilities, if she can survive long enough in one on one that was can stealthily set up positions around this point. We will cut off any chances for her to escape through the air, then I shall move in and..." He stopped, Tobiichi could sense he was on the verge of tears.

"I'm heading out, don't make me fight longer than I have to." She walked alone up the hill, recalling her conversation with Robert from before. Sarah was a childhood friend, they had many times played in the cave at the top, Robert knew she would be here. It was the only place possible. Setting their scanners on this point they found the same readers as before, she was here.

"Tobiichi, Tobiichi, I'm surprised you could find me this quickly, you must have been searching for quite some time." Sarah walked out of the cave, her CR unit was still attached, Robert was right, she was careful.

"Sarah Donnigahn." Tobiichi drew her sword raising it between herself and Sarah, Sarah drew her own and did the same, two meters separated them.

"I'm surprised, so you still remember me?" She laughed her eyes seemed completely glazed, "Make sure you scream it when I take your head!" She charged forward, using her CR unit to increase her speed, her feet dragged along the ground.

Meeting her strike Tobiichi tumbled to the right, sword raised as she searched the area in which she should've been. "Over here dumbass!" Turning to the right she parried a second blow, Sarah hovering half a foot above the ground. They continued to trade blows as Tobiichi lost herself in the fight, instinctively slashing and blocking.

Seeing an opening she slashed forward slicing Sarah's right wing off, as she tumbled into the ground she smile, "Pretty good Tobiichi, its gonna take me hours to fix that." Ejecting the rest of the unit she drew a second sword, "But this ain't over yet!"

"It is." Sarah stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes were wide open, standing behind her, Tobiichi recognized the figure as Robert, this was the first time she had seen his wiring suit. Unlike hers it had a large cloak draped over it, the hood was pulled over hiding his face. His sword arm was clearly seen, the black steel gleaming in the dying sun.

The rest of the suit consisted of light plating, which was only around the torso legs, his arms were completely bare. "Robert? Is, is that you?" Sarah dropped both her blades, Tobiichi saw tears drip down her face, "It is you Robert, I know its you." She ran towards him her arms outstretched as if to embrace him. When she was meter away Robert rose his right arm, Tobiichi could see the outline of a gun.

Without hesitation he proceed to shoot two rounds through her chest, knocking Sarah backwards, she collapsed onto the ground, her hands were at her wound as blood gushed out.

"Why..." She coughed blood, Tobiichi could only watch in horror as Robert walked up close to her, "Why... would you do this, do you have any idea..." Sarah's words grew weaker, blood sprayed from her mouth with every word, "DEM, they betrayed us, they lied to us. Do you have any idea what they've done to you?"

Robert stood above her, his left arm poised, "I loved you Sarah, eight years has done little to make those feeling fade, but you're already gone," Robert was crying as he leaned down, kissing her lightly across the lips, he drew back his arm, his eye never left hers.

"You don't have to do this... we can run away together, they never have to know."

"You're right we can, close your eyes Sarah," She obeyed smiling.

"Oh Robert, I love you t..." He plunged his blade into her, her head went limp, turning to the side. Robert rose up, his right hand went to his ear.

"You happy now?" Robert was still crying, Tobiichi stood nearby watching him, unable to make any sense of what had just happened. "You happy now Mister Wescott?" He collapsed onto the ground, his head drooped, facing away from Sarah's corpse. "What! Collect the corpse?" Robert threw the earpiece off the cliff.

"No, fuck you." He turned, "Hey Tobiichi, give her a proper burial won't ya? Don't let DEM get their filthy hands on her." He walked off, Tobiichi set to work. Unable to decide wether or not she wanted to dig deeper into his past.

* * *

**It was a little rushed I'll admit, but I did get it looked over by a friend of mine so at least the grammar should be right, though weekends are nice though, I should be able to put more time into the next part, actually I've already written it, but its kinda insane. If anyone wants I could rewrite it and get it done by tomorrow, so tell me in a review if you want me to. I feel like sleeping a long night...**

**P.S. Special thanks to a fellow user for telling me that males can also use wiring suits in the date a ****liveverse, I greatly appreciated it**


	3. Secrets and Lies

"Tobiichi, you look lost in thought." Tobiichi looked up, Mikie seemed more cheerful than usual.

"What's your opinion of Robert?" Mikie looked surprised.

"Well he looks about our age, I guess you can say he's kinda cute..." clearly she misunderstood what she meant.

"Don't you find it weird he has a wiring suit? Currently DEM industries barely produces enough for the world's special forces, how could someone like him get a custom made suit while still being a male? Most of his kind would find it difficult to even walk in the current model..."

"Oh, so you think he's really talented," she shook her head, she edged closer, "In denial eh?" Tobiichi needed to clear this up if she was to gain anything from this conversation, the most efficient way would be to...

"I watched him murder the one person he ever loved I believe you misinterpret my intentions."

Mikie sat back down, the entire room seemed to eye them, "Oh. Well, I guess it is strange that he has a custom wiring suit, the amount of magical ability to authorize such a move must be massive."

"Or he's just another man with plenty of money to burn," another person sat down next to them, she turned to find herself face to face with a small child, perhaps only seven or eight. Her head barely reached the top the table. "Between you and me, he's really pretty useless, he pretty much failed his mission, that body could've been great use to us. What a useless piece o..."

Tobiichi slammed her fist on the table, again the whole room seemed centred around them, "Oh so you know about it them," she jumped on the table holding a small blade to her throat. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in delight as she sliced the blade across thin air.

"I'm just kidding," she laughed, leaping off the table she called back at Tobiichi, "Meet me at Robert's room, two minutes. Or I won't be kidding anymore." She skipped, humming to some unidentifiable tune.

* * *

"Good, good, you're finally here." she looked at the clock, "exactly one and half minutes, guess you ran over pretty fast eh?" Robert sat on his bed, the room consisted of a small space, the little girl dragged her in spun her around and stood at the door, although she did her best to hide it, Tobiichi could feel she was stopping her from leaving.

"Now, tell me precisely what happened." Tobiichi was forced to explain, Robert stayed unmoving, eyeing the little girl carefully. Although she looked harmless with her ponytail, red hair and freckles... "Wow, boring, so basically, this guy kills the one person he loves and collapses on the ground in tears."

She shook her head comically, "Lame, anyway he couldn't bring himself to hand her body in to be taken apart and examined, especially that brain of hers," she pointed at her own head, sticking her tongue out she turned towards Robert, "really wanted to know what a psycho like hers is like..."

"You're one to talk," Robert looked at her, Tobiichi could sense the hostility in the gaze, ignoring it she continued to taunt him.

"You know Ike's pretty mad right? Said something about not wanting people to find out about the..." she stopped, she closed her mouth and smiled, "That's classified."

"Tell me," Robert stood up, his left arm was missing, but Tobbichi standing right next to him could see the blade in his right... "As 2nd lieutenant I should..."

"Classified!" She ran to the door pressing her back to it, her eyes looked scared, "Please, please, I can't tell you, sorry, really sorry, just, no, Classified!" Reluctently Robert sat back down, still concealing the blade.

She seemed to calm down, stepping forward, "But I guess its a good thing she's dead, we can't have you collapsing on the field now can we? I mean, you're the one who has been specifically trained to hunt Exo..."

Robert moved swiftly, stabbing her in the gut then quickly drawing his blade out. Collapsing onto the ground, she put pressure on the wound, calmly raising her head, she continued to smile, "Ok, I deserved that, sorry Robert, Private Tobiichi, could you please carry me to the medical ward to be treated." She smiled again, though her eyes gave it away, she was expecting him to act this way.

* * *

"Hey don't look at me like that, come to think of it, you always look at people like that, it that really a face?" she reached up pulling on her cheek with her blood stained hand. "Huh, I guess so, by the way, you don't know my name right?" She smiled again, "Well, I think you should call me something cool, like, I don't know."

She looked up at her, thinking really hard, "What about you, what would be a really cool thing to call someone," Tobiichi ignored her, "Hey answer me," she tapped her on the cheek, seeing no response she turned away, "My name is Clarun and you're no fun, hey that rhymes." She giggled as they proceeded down the hallway.

* * *

"Ah, that feels so much better," Clarun pressed the flesh around her stomach, "and to think the power to do this comes from..." She placed both hands on her mouth, pulling them away she smiled, "That's Classified."

"I have a feeling you knew this would happen."

"Ok Tobiichi maybe you aren't so boring, yes I knew this would happen. But it happens all the time, I don't know why you don't do this more often, I mean the medical realizers are amazing aren't they, fixed me up in such a short time." She jabbed her stomach more violently, smiling as she did so.

"Oh hi Robert, did ya miss me?" She smiled, "Oh I'm sorry though, I really shouldn't have said that before about Sarah."

"It's fine," he sat down nearby, "so what are you here for anyway."

"Oh no reason, I was just in the area so I just came to say hi." She was sweating, raising one arm she cocked her head and did her best to smile, "Hi."

"We both know that's a lie, now tell me why you're really here."

"That's classified." she turned away and began a chorus of fake snores.

"There's no point in you being here Tobiichi, would you mind leaving?" She did, but as she approached the door, Clarun turned back around to face Robert.

"It's a secret." And she leaned closer to Robert, whispering something in his ear before dissolving into a burst of laughter.

* * *

"Tobiichi, Tobiichi, you have to come see this, right now." She turned around, Mikie ran up along the hall, a sheet of papers in her hand.

"So I remembered what you said about Robert, so I did some digging and..." she shoved the list in her face, it seemed to consist of a long list of names. "The name Robert Bailey came up in this, this is the casualty report written by DEM of one of the areas hit by Exodus."

"And look right here, right next to his name, see? Robert Bailey, confirmed dead. And there's more," turning a few more pages Mikie pointed at another highlighted name, "Sarah Dunnigahn, she was also confirmed dead."

"If you were anyone else Tobiichi I would have you killed." Clarun walked towards them, her smile was gone, "But you are Ike's favo..." she paused, "Classified, anyway don't tell anyone ok, if you know what's good for her." She pointed at Mikie, then walked off, "don't poke your nose around here Tobiichi, you won't like what you find."

She started walking away when she stopped, turning around slowly she smiled again, "How about this, if you beat me in a duel I'll tell you everything, if you lose, you'll keep your nose out of it, understood?" Tobiichi nodded, Clarun looked compltely serious, "Oh this will be a lot of fun, oh yes it will."

"Its a bit heavy for me," Clarun dragged her energy sword along the ground, "I really shouldn't have gone for this, I really shouldn't have..."

Tobiichi charged, a simple swipe aimed at stopping just at her neck, but her blade was swatted away and a sharp kick in her stomach set her sliding back. "Joking." Clarun moved with unbelievable agility swiping her blade multiple times Tobiichi was force back with every stike.

"Oh come on, you completely suck, even Robert is better than this, come to think of it, Robert is better than me, hmm, well I guess that's a good thing, the other thing not that thing..." Her ranting followed as she continued to slash, Tobiichi could barely keep up, there had to be some weakness to this strategy.

Then she saw it, the way she swung her blade, instead of a firm grip she spun it on her palm, relying on momentum to keep it going she would catch it before it would bounce back, giving the illusion of the slash. Grabb her blade with both hands she swung to meet her strike knocking the blade straight out. Clarun stumbled backwards, chuckling. "Oh well, I guess you saw through that eh?, damn it I was so close."

Tobiichi looked back, behind her was a small ledge, if she had stepped there and fallen back Clarun definitely would've finished her. "Well you win and I have to keep my promise," she walked off, "follow me, we can't talk out here."

* * *

"So you already know that Robert and Sarah were victims of Exodus's attacks, but what you don't is that I'm a victim as well," she talked differently, as if reciting a confession, "oh, I've wanted to say this stuff for so long, even Robert doesn't know you know?"

"I'm not really supposed to tell you anything, so please, please don't make me say anymore, Ike would..." she began tearing up, "Continuing, you see DEM was in charge of rescues, but when they arrived in the towns, they found nothing but a town half dead, Exodus you see, she drains the life out of people to power herself. Greedy. Anyway, um, I forgot this part..."

"Oh, so DEM couldn't just heal these people, you see their life itself had been stolen, so to stop them from dying, DEM tried to heal them but with consequences."

"How did they heal him?"

"Classified, now please shut up!" Clarun clenched her head as if in pain, "Please I bet of you no questions, I can't tell you much, just stop asking these stupid questions." Though she could guess, Robert had mentioned something about injecting magic into him, but why would she want to hide it?

"Good, now continuing. The first one you see, I think he was called something like, like, I don't remember. Anyway, Exodus had an effect on him, he triggered a spacequake and died in it, say it killed a lot of people, they couldn't risk another one you see so they put us in cryo, they tried to perfect the technique so they could stop this from happening again, ok? They cut off body parts every week and slowly tested it on the tissue."

"Now, Robert was the lucky one, when his left arm was cut off it worked," she clapped her hands gleefully, "they got just what they wanted, so with this new treatment they managed to save a lot of people ok?"

"But here's where your real questions are, how are we all such capable wizards, simply because the treatment relies on unlocking what is called true power within us, a hidden magic storage if you will." She turned away, her eyes seemed sad, "But the catch, there's always a catch, our lifespan is kinda short you see, I've only got eight years left."

* * *

**Ok, it may be a bit difficult to comprehend but give her a break, Clarun is only eight, it's already amazing she can speak so fluently. I have a lot of free time right now and I don't have any plans for a while so... The next two chapters should pop up quite soon, I hope you enjoy them.**


	4. The Other Side of Insanity

"Clarun won't be joining us?" Again Robert was giving them a briefing on the plan, as the only person incapable of flight, he would provide supporting fire from the ground, once Exodus had been forced onto the ground, he would be in charge of eliminating her.

"She works in tech, she's not really involved here, now pay attention." The plan he was suggesting was hoping to imitate their last encounter, if they could enter the same situation as last time, he could get the chance to fight her head on.

* * *

Exodus was standing among the fifth site she had hit, she seemed to look around desperately. "No, no this shouldn't be happening, you said nothing would happen to them..." She looked up, seeing the formation of AST wizards she panicked, "but I haven't done anything wrong, explain to me why this is happening."

They got closer and closer, Exodus held only her orb, both weapons she had were currently missing, hoping to find them she had arrived here. "Do I really have to do that? But it uses up so much energy, we might not have enough to collect more, ok, understood."

Raising her orb in front of her, it began to absorb the light from the area around it, causing a light mist of darkness. "Rise my angel," the orb disappeared, growing from her back spread two wings a meter in length, her eyes had changed into pure darkness. Rising up to meet the AST, a smaller orb floated in each palm.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you." She raising her right arm, blasting a focused beam of energy.

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Swerving to dodge the beam, they watched as the spirit charged straight towards them, "Isn't she supposed to be using guns?" She moved almost three times as quickly as before, moving right in front of one of them, she tore both wings off and backed off to avoid any chance at fighting back.

"She's fast," backing off, three of them released an entire mag at the target, though the bullets bounced harmlessly off. Firing her beam towards them, they set up territories to protect themselves, only to find that it tore straight through, ripping the wings off each of them.

"Tobiichi," Mikie moved closer to her, still firing towards Exodus, "What do we do now?"

Exodus turned, staring straight at her, "So, you're still alive eh? I'm glad," Placing both orbs together she threw them apart, griping on the trail of energy she produced a doubled edged spear, "if you know what's good for you run."

Then suddenly a small hole appeared in one of her wings, she reared back in pain and tumbled towards the ground.

* * *

"Damn it I missed," Robert threw away the rifle, it was a good thing he hit something, his left arm split revealing a handle, drawing it out he leapt off the cliff, free falling towards the streets below. "All AST members, fall back for now, you'll get in the way."

He dashed through the empty streets slashing straight through anything in his way. The entire town reminded him of the ruins of his own home, what Exodus had done to him and Sarah, it was her fault, it was all her fault.

"I will make you pay for this Exodus, I will make you pay," Dashing out into the open he found Tobiichi and Exodus squaring off, Exodus had lost her wings, but she still seemed to be dominating Tobiichi.

He activated his beam sabre, its blade shone a dull grey. Exodus dashed forward blocking all of the shots fired by Tobiichi, slashing straight through barrel she raised her left arm and blasted her right through the wall, knocking her out cold.

"She's not dead," she turned, Robert pointed the blade at her.

"I wouldn't say the same about you." As she slashed forward he side stepped and slashed in from opposite directions, she stopped both blades with her spear, it suddenly extended knocking his arms aside focusing her spear forward she released a blast directed to remove his left arm, but it harmlessly got sliced apart by the blade.

"What, how?" She backed off, "How is a flimsy little blade like that capable of surviving?"

"It's not any ordinary material, this is residue you left behind, little by little, we collected enough to form a blade," he dashed forward, knocking her spear aside with his sabre he impaled her with the blade. "do you feel it, the solid form of your very own powers, forged from the pain of the thousands you killed."

He pulled out the blade, Exodus collapsed to her knees, a pool of blood gathering around her. Robert drew back his arm, preparing to impale her neck. "Save me," The darkness faded from her eyes as she collapsed to the ground, the spear disappeared but in its place the orb rose.

"Not possible, how can the angel still function, she's out cold." Robert slashed at it but his blade missed. The orb began to grow forcing him back, it enveloped Exodus and when it disappeared she had vanished as well.

* * *

Tobiichi woke up in the medical ward, though she found herself face to face with Clarun who was sitting on top of her, playing on a handheld console, it made quiet little shooting noises as Clarun screamed "Die, die, die." Over and over again.

"What... What happened."

"Oh, you're awake, good, Exodus got away again." She didn't sound displeased at all, "By the way Tobiichi, I was wondering, what are your reasons for doing all this?" She looked at her closely, "Why do you work in the AST, you put in more training hours per day than any other person. Every single fight seems to involve you getting badly injured in combat. What are you doing all this for?"

Tobiichi turned away, she didn't want to tell her. "Well no matter your reasons, I see great potential in you, which is why I want to offer you something wonderful." She leapt off the bed, "A CR unit, I want you to be the first to test our newest model in the field. Since Exodus is the largest target I came here to watch its performance, you know I was going to hand it the captain as orders but I'd much prefer to give it to you."

"What do you say, Tobiichi Origami." She nodded, "Good, you should probably test it first, it was so difficult to modify it so normal people could use it. I really wish people were more like..." She paused, then started to walk out, muttering something under her breath, "Idiot, that's classified beyond your rank."

* * *

The CR unit was absolutely amazing, it's flight capabilities were far beyond the current model and it didn't seem too different from her previous wiring suit. "It attaches right on so there's no need for any complicated stuff, you flying it alright?"

Tobiichi nodded, the unit functioned almost perfectly. "Good, good, I really wish it was that easy to make more advanced models, this one took me a while." Tobiichi landed right next to her, finding it almost too easy.

"I knew it was the right choice in choosing you for this, you performed much better than those useless engineers." She looked different, Tobiichi also noticed that her usual bubbly personality had disappeared, leaving a serious very different Clarun.

"Try out the weapons systems now, see if adjustments should be made to the stability to suit your firing technique." Tobiichi drew her rifle as Clarun strategically popped up target after target, although the stillness of the unit was very different from the moving of the old wiring suit. She quickly found herself performing far better.

"Hmm, not bad, though I was expecting a little more," Tobiichi looked down at her, she seemed to be making small sketches, as if modifications to some design. "draw you sword now, make sure you can reach it."

The next few hours passed on like this, with Tobiichi testing almost every single aspect possible, evasion, territory, burst dash, sniper stability. All through the entire process Clarun didn't seem satisfied, constantly making small notes and sketches.

* * *

Robert couldn't believe how weak he was, he let her get away, as he continued to nail target after target he couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment in himself. Clarun stood at the doorway, leaning on one of the posts.

"You here to insult me? Don't bother, nothing you say could possibly make me feel worse," he pulled his sword, throwing it at the final target it sliced straight through the centre, he then released the remaining bullets at the head, tearing it apart.

"No, I can be serious, sometimes, like now for example," she walked over next to him, "you need to calm down, sure I may try to mentally destroy you at every given moment, but I don't really mean any of it, you can't blame yourself for her death."

"You're right, it's Exodus's fault," he reloaded the pistol and restarted the programme, "I'm going to kill her, I will skin her alive with my bare hands, I will make her pay for all the pain she's caused me."

Clarun grabbed his left arm, her hand moved across the bare stump, "But if you continue to pursue her alone, there's a large chance you could die," Clarun was crying, she gripped harder to keep herself up, "My entire family is dead, I was forced to work like a slave for an entire, in all that time only one thing kept me going."

"You Robert, you're like an older brother to me, you remind me of him." Robert paused, he knew about her past, he could understand what she was saying, "Even you still have family, your sister, I have nothing left, if you continue to pursue for revenge, what do I have left? What can I can I do?"

Robert looked at her, his eyes stayed cold, calm, "I don't care Clarun, when our families and friends were torn away from us do you think that spirit cared. Do you think anyone cared, no." He shook her off and took aim, "You have no idea what I've been through."

"You idiot! Do you know how much time I've spent in pain, do you know..."

"You know nothing!" Clarun stepped back, shocked at him, "Do you understand how much it hurts to torture the one person you love, to be forced to kill her or lose the only chance at avenging everyone you've ever known, do you have any idea how much it hurts?"

Clarun stepped back, she was already at the door, she turned to leave, "You have no idea, Robert."

* * *

"Are you sure about this Ike, you really want to use her to hunt him down?"

"The third patient, Kanata Koru, we can't allow anyone to find out so there's only her, or you could do the job yourself."

"No, I'd prefer not to reveal my existence until the time is right."

"Then I will use her, a simple trade if you will, already all the pieces have been set."

"But this plan of yours, so much work for the capture of a single spirit..."

"It is necessary, we will need a large amount of mana if we are to complete the project, out of all the spirits out there, Exodus has the largest a message to her, tell her to hunt him down and eliminate the target. Authorize the use of the custom CR unit."

Ellen went to leave the room but as she did Ike called to her.

"If anyone gets in her way, tell her she's allowed to eliminate them too."

* * *

**I'm going to take a break for a while, been working almost non-stop to get these out as soon as possible, the next chapter should be out by on the 12th or 13th of August. If you're enjoying it feel free to ****favourite or PM me, your support would mean a lot to me.**


	5. Pain We May Never Forget

No, he can't leave, he can't, "I'll be back in a few days, look after the house while I'm gone, ok?"

Please... Stop, you can't, you'll die. "It'll only be a few days, I'll be back as soon as I can ok?"

No, no, no, the scene changed, two adults stood there, policemen. "You're brother he's been confirmed dead." No, not again, please not again...

Exodus awoke, she could feel the sweat run down her entire body, "That dream again, that damned dream again." She slammed her fist on the ground, cracking the stone, she could feel her stomach in pain.

"You're right, I shouldn't reopen the wound." She clenched her fists in frustration, "Damned spirit, you goddamned spirit."

* * *

"Tobiichi, Tobiichi," she woke up, Clarun was standing in front of her, it looked like she had been crying, though she smiled as usual. "come on, we've got to test its field capabilities right? Go outside and fly it around a bit, we should test if the winds and climate here affects it in any way."

"How'd you get in here, the door was locked." She looked at the time, two in the morning, this was no time to be doing tests like this.

"I couldn't sleep and the door is easy stuff," she followed her out, the panel next to the door had been removed, obviously tampered with, she reattached it as Clarun walked on, "keep up Tobiichi, and try to keep it down."

She followed her, she could sense something was wrong, "I made a few adjustments based on your comments, you're right though, a two wing based thrust system does limit air combat capabilities, though it would take a while to make edits."

She walked differently, but then she felt someone pull her back, dragging her into a dark corner, "Be quiet, I need to speak to you, when you're free." The figure handed her something, a small device, "This will call me to your room, use it when you're ready to talk about," he pointed at Clarun, "her."

He stepped out and walked in the opposite direction, "Hurry up Tobiichi, we really don't have much time to waste."

They continued to walk to the hangar in which the unit was stored, "Taking it out is pretty simple," she walked over to the magnetic locks, "all you have to do is take these two wires," Tobiichi could clearly see what she was doing, "switch them around and power is converted from the authorization panel to the frame, then give a small electrical charge."

The unit unlocked, Tobiichi climbed inside, "Might be useful if you ever need to steal one, I'm pretty sure someone like you could find this useful." Tobiichi activated the unit, instantly she could feel it come to life, "it doesn't even leave any records, which is pretty smart of me, since I designed it."

She looked up, instead of the usual smile her face was clad in sorrow. "Well go ahead, the target should be on your map, I'll watch from here." She took out a small laptop and linked it to her unit, breaking through all security barriers, "well what are you still doing here, hurry up and go."

* * *

Tobiichi sat patiently on the bed as the man paced around her room, shamelessly digging through her property. "Hmm, hmm, not bad I guess, you're sure no one is listening? Not hiding any bugs?"

"No." The man seemed quite old, maybe in his thirties, his hair was quite clean, his glasses hung there more like decoration, he wore a suit, but she could see folds and mud all over it. Obviously hasn't been maintained properly.

"Good, I'm the vice-head of DEM's science division, although I'm more interested in psychology than these, toys," he picked up the rifle that she had been repairing, "self maintained, not bad. I can see why she would stick so closely to you."

He turned around to face her, "I've been noticing great spikes in Clarun's mental state, I'd like to ask you are you the cause." He looked quite serious, although Tobiichi couldn't see the point, "This is very important, so I'll be more clear, have you done anything that could possibly upset Clarun Yaki?"

"No."

"Then it must be his fault, that idiot." He paced around the room, "For now you must do anything you can to help Clarun, do you understand? If not, I can easily have you removed from this squad and cast out."

Tobiichi nodded, he seemed to calm down, "Thank you, I know this may seem strange, but please, do as I asked. Clarun is very important to us."

* * *

Robert lay sprawled on the floor, his left cheek burned from the blow, standing above him was the vice-head of DEM's science division, "You complete and utter idiot, do you have any idea what you have done?"

Robert stood up to face him, "You're overprotective of her, she needs to understand that I'm not a replacement for her lost brother, we all lost someone, tell her to grow up." Robert's eyes were cold, still, empty.

"Do you have any idea what she's been through, any idea what she has lost?" he was shouting now, quite loudly too, "You do realize how important she is to the succession of his plan?"

Robert grabbed him by the collar pulling him close, "All you care about is his plan, you don't care if she lives forever in a world of lies as long as she does what she's told to, I'm sick of it, you of all people." He tossed him back.

"You of all people should care for her more than this, you could at least tell her," Robert turned away, fighting back tears, "Mr. Yaki."

* * *

"She can go further, trust me, we can still save her." Clarun stared intently, the system should be perfect, it should be.

"Clarun you have to stop, let her die in peace, this was already too rushed." Clarun was in tears, why wasn't it working, it had to work, it must work.

The subject wriggled and fought, it seemed to be screaming, but the fluid killed any such noise. "No, I can't give up now, not now. This was our last chance, her readings are almost close to death, this her last chance." Her heart rate was rising, it was going to overload. "No, this shouldn't be happening, it shouldn't."

The subject froze, her eyes looked emptily at her. "Her heart gave out, the pain was too great..." Clarun collapsed, she was shaking, her eyes unfocused. "It's not your fault, get up Clarun."

"No, no," tears streamed down her cheeks, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." she picked her up, carrying her to her room, she was motionless, as if life itself had left her body, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

* * *

Clarun sat in the middle of her living room, she watched her mother crying in the armchair, "What's wrong, why are you crying?"

Her mother looked at her in tears, "Baby, daddy is not going to come home."

"But he just went to work, maybe tomorrow, maybe he's late."

"No, he's not ever going to come back," she kneeled in front of her, clutching her hands tightly, "can you be strong for mommy? Can you promise you'll be strong and smile so I can too?"

Clarun smiled as wide as she could, "Sure mommy, I promise," she hugged her neck, "I promise I'll smile forever, for you."

* * *

"Like this?" she raised the orb at the unconscious man, drawing out mana from his life force, carefully she took just enough that he collapsed to the ground, unharmed.

"You sure it'll have no side effects right?" she checked his pulse, it seemed quite normal, about 61 bpm. "I really don't want to hurt anyone," she raised her free arm, blasting a rock to pieces, "except her," she rose, "I'm going to kill her for taking him away from me."

The man sunk into the ground, a small trail went down the hill into the town below, depositing him in his bed a couple minutes later, still alive, still asleep. "You promise you can it right, you promise you can beat her?"

She released another subject out, she still needed to practice, she couldn't allow a single person to suffer as she did, "Then I shall do all you ask." She activated the same process over again, she still had plenty she had to go through.

* * *

"So they sent you didn't they, bastards at DEM, I can't take what they've been doing anymore." target seems to be unarmed, information is still on his person, "I knew they would send you, he always sends you doesn't he?"

"Kanata has already been eliminated, now hand over the details before I am forced to eliminate you as well." He was scared, she could tell, Kanata was strong, but nothing compared to her. This scientist on the other hand, he was an unknown.

"Impossible, he's one of those super wizards, those altered ones, you couldn't have killed him that quickly he even had a CR unit!"

"Hand over the data and I promise you'll be dealt with fairly." Kanata handed the data over to him, data that could bring DEM to ruin, it must be destroyed.

"No, never." she stepped closer, her blade right at his throat, "How can you proceed with this, what they're doing is mass murder, genocide!"

"Authorized to eliminate," she sliced his head off cleanly, his body collapsed, bending down she pulled the small chip from his pocket, "Objective completed returning to base."

"Well done," it was Wescott, she paused, had he been displeased with her execution of the task? "That could've ruined my plan, it's too soon for her to find out. Just a little too soon." He paused heaving an obvious sigh of relief.

"Eight years I have planned for this moment, you are the only thing keeping it together, so many mistakes..." She nodded, it would be a shame to fail now, so much work had been done for this moment, "It's time to draw out our guest soon, come back, Takamiya Mana."

* * *

**I know it's a bit shorter than the others, but I just found this, I didn't even realise I wrote this part... I thought this was the last part. Well anyway I'm already nearly done with chapter 6, if there are any mistakes please tell me, I've been working on the next part a lot so I haven't really checked this one as thoroughly as the others.**


	6. To Force a Knight to Kneel

Tobiichi found Clarun asleep inside the hangar, the CR unit was completely taken apart and she seemed have been trying to attach separate parts. "She was here all night, she hasn't slept at all, give her some time to rest won't you?"

Mr. Yaki stood behind her, she nodded, turning around to leave. "You don't mind being her guinea pig for a short while would you?" she shook her head, Clarun helped her a lot towards her goal, the combat capabilities of the CR unit was comparable to spirits, but only just. "Good, give her something to keep her mind busy."

He turned to walk away, "Who are you really?" he turned around, staring at her threateningly, it was a clear sign.

Clarun murmured in her sleep, her face seemed quite depressed, "She's got no family left, not even the pretend kind, do me a favour, make sure she doesn't kill herself. It would be most inconvenient."

* * *

"It's not your fault Clarun, you have to calm down." she was still crouched in the corner, she hadn't eaten in days, she doubted that she had even moved from that spot.

"It's no use, she just murdered someone." Mr. Yaki stood there, he stared coldly at Clarun, "She can't hear us through the glass you know," he tapped it twice, Clarun didn't even seem to notice.

"How can you act like this? You could easily fix this," Mr. Yaki stared at her blankly, "just walk in there and tell her you're still alive, what is wrong with that?"

"If I do that then she'll lose interest in working and what happens to Mister Wescott's plan then?" he didn't seem to see Clarun as a person, more like a machine, something whose feelings were a weakness. "Why don't you try to do something, why don't you convince her that she couldn't have been saved, she's too soft right, it really won't do having her collapse every time she fails" he passed a file into her hands, "this subject should be easier to revive, bring her back to life, she's about to expire."

She held the file, of course, she had to help her. Even if he wouldn't, she would, she looked at the name on the file, it was Clarun's mother. "Wait, is this really the best choice? Is there not any other?"

"Just do it," he walked out, not even once did he look back.

* * *

"Target located," releasing a barrage of missiles on the small cave, the whole structure imploded, collapsing on itself, "Target, lost." She searched the area, based on the intel she was incapable of using her shadow travel for too far, she should appear within her line of sight.

Exodus rose from the centre of the rubble, her orb had already changed into two separate pieces, "Angel form, won't be able to use that strategy." she fired a second round to test her reaction, firing them low so that if she fired she would hit the town below, as expected she shielded herself instead of intercepting the missiles.

"Target following actions, 7-5-3, execute attack sequence 9-2-14," she flew downwards, keeping the town at her back she drew her blade and charged straight ahead, Exodus leapt high into the air as she moved below her she fired a beam at her, aimed at taking out her left wing.

"As expected, continuing with sequence 9-2-14," she turned suddenly, dodging the strike firing missiles only on the left, Exodus instinctively moved to the right, "intercepting target," slashing forward using the extra weight on her left side to increase its strength, as expected, Exodus was knocked back, far enough that she could release those missiles as well.

The resulting explosion would've killed any other opponent, "Sequence complete, awaiting further instructions." Exodus was injured from the blast, although it still was not enough to complete the objective.

"Who are you?" her eyes were emotionless, as to be expected from a spirit, truly they had to be below humans, to be forever crushed under the foot of innovation. Soon, such creatures would be no threat to humanity, once the experiment was complete. Just as Wescott had planned.

* * *

"Don't worry you'll be sent to a very nice orphanage, when you get older you'll get all of this back," _no you won't._

"You'll be happy there," _no you won't._

"You'll be fine, go ahead, yes, that alley." _no you won't_

_Lies, your whole life has been lies, wouldn't you like to change that? Your whole life has been lies, deceit. You've been beaten, lied to, tricked, even raped, you've led a very sad little life haven't you?_

She looked around, not seeing anyone, "Who's there," she looked unsurprised, "I've heard you all my life, just what do you want from me?"

_I feel sorry for you, you lost everything haven't you, and who's fault do you think it is? All your life you've been the victim, nothing has ever gone your way has it? But let me give you a chance at revenge, you want that don't you, on every single person that hurt you?_

She didn't know why she believed the voice, she trusted it completely, blindly even.

_I can give you power, enough to take revenge on all those people..._

* * *

As Exodus retracted the spear from the man's throat, he collapsed to the ground, "Another one, how many left?" She heard a scream from behind her, turning around a woman lay on her knees, "Who's this, his wife?" She walked over, spear still in hand.

She looked down at her, she reminded Exodus of herself, "Kill her? I already said I would not harm an innocent intentionally," she placed her hand on her forehead, feeling her life force she drained just enough to cause her to collapse unconscious.

"I know, I regret that another will have to face the pain I had, if only a portion." She looked sadly at her, walking out she had just one target, the spirit that caused that spacequake so many years ago, she would rip that spirit apart.

* * *

"Focus, I need to focus," she could barely keep up with her, although her equipment was advanced it should not be enough to overpower her. "who are you?" She lunged forward only to have her dodge and slash her across the the leg, backing off she stared at her.

They seemed equally matched and would be if it weren't for the injury, she could feel it starting to break, it hadn't fully healed yet. "Apply pressure to wound, utilize weakness, sequence 1-1-1." She seemed to smile, charging straight forward Exodus saw her chance and swiped taking out her right wing, no all she had to do was watch her blade.

Instead she punched her, in the stomach with her empty hand, Exodus felt the wound give out and her vision disappear, drifting into unconsciousness. "Target acquired."

* * *

"As expected when she enters that state the angel is unable to function as before, well done on her capture, Mana." She nodded, "You may leave now." She got up from her seat and walked out.

"So, shall I continue to observe her mental state, I believe I need to act, I didn't spend hours torturing her to wipe her memory clean just to have her thinking again." Wescott nodded, "Then I'll get to work. Oh and the analysis on the spirit is nearly complete, her mental state is currently stable."

"You enjoy your work don't you?" Mr. Yaki just smiled, an expert in biology and psychological torture, able to cause more pain than is physically possibly, willing to dig into past memories to tear even the slightest hope from his patients, he truly was an incredible man.

* * *

"Are you completely insane, you set her up to die didn't you?" Mr. Yaki laughed, his eyes sparkled in delight. Clarun sat in the room, constructing the CR unit as ordered.

"I did it, I finally did it." He stood arms outstretched, "I fixed my own daughter, now his plan can continue on track. All those hours I tortured her may have had no effect, but oh, it was so easy when I finally understood her."

She stepped back, "You drove her insane, you force her to work, do you have any sense of reason?" He grabbed her throat squeezing hard, his eyes dance in the light, the smile of a lunatic drawn on his face.

"You don't like my methods, well let me tell you something about them, I'm going to use it on every single survivor of these operations, I'm going to make every single one of them obedient, I'm going to give Wescott an army, I will single handedly change this world!" As he could feel life leave her corpse he dropped her, looking inside Clarun continued to work, smiling

"I promised you mother, I promised..."

* * *

"Hello Exodus, allow me to introduce myself, I am Mr. Yaki." she felt she was bound to the chair, she also could not access of her abilities as a spirit. "I've been chosen to give you a tour of what we do here at DEM."

"Welcome to the farm," she watched as the monitor showed a room, inside were hundreds of tubes, "this is where we collect all the mana we need for our experiments, happily donated by one of our sponsors."

He watched her stare at horror at the scene, "Don't you recognize them Exodus?" he stabbed a blade into her arm, twisting it, back and forth, "try to remember, at least make a guess?" As she flashed into realization he smiled, this was going to be easier than he thought.

"You're right, these are your so called victims, about 8251 of them, these are all that remain," he removed the blade and watched the blood flow onto the ground, "but now we don't need them, we have you, just enough energy to complete our last experiment, they're all disposable now."

He stepped back, "I'll take you to visit them sometime, let you say goodbye."

* * *

"Wescott, this is about Robert, I want him dead," Mr. Yaki seemed quite serious, "my most proudest work, Clarun and he's about to fix it, it was already bad enough that you let him be her pretend brother, it lowered her efficiency significantly."

"I'll let you deal with this," he turned away to observe the subject, "use whatever methods you desire."

"Thank you sir," he turned to leave, laughing as he did so, "I'm going to make your life hell Robert, I'm going to make it hell."

He pulled out a small communicator, speaking into it he gave orders to Robert, "I need you to do something, we believe there's a leakage, the whole town knows about what we did. If this leaks out, you won't be able to take revenge on Exodus, the whole programme will be shut down and you disposed of."

"You understand right? Take your unit and wipe out the entire town, don't let a single person escape, these orders have been approved by Director Wescott." he smiled, lowering he device, but changed his mind, whispering a few more words, "Oh, if any of the AST try to stop you, wipe them out."

* * *

Report on Subject One:

Summary of Events:

Subject gained consciousness, as Mr. Yaki performed his usual duties the subject did not seem to respond, highly violent and capable he single handedly wiped out an entire squad of DEM wizards whilst unarmed, was finally restrained when he ran out of mana forty-eight hours later.

We believe the subject has had a strange effect from the mana, suggesting the samples acquired are impure. From the amount that had to be used, we believe he has the same levels as to be expected from a spirit.

Evaluation:

Subject one is the first to survive, his abilities are highly advanced but we believe there is something that is stopping the mana from reacting directly with his body, only through massive overload were we able to cause any effect.

We advise that he be kept alive until a strong source of mana can be collected, for now, we will need to perfect the technique, all the mana stores have been depleted, we only have one thousand subjects left to drain it from. Perhaps through the elimination of this barrier, we could create the objective.

* * *

**I've got work to do for a while so I might not be able to complete the next part as quickly, I won't make any promises I might not be able to keep.**


	7. The Will Behind the Blade

Kill them, kill them all.

Robert stared glassy eyed at the small town, it seemed quiet, he watched as people walked past him, unaware of his objective here. His left arm was concealed by a cloak, but people still eyed him warily, they knew he didn't belong.

"Mama, can I have some ice cream." Clarun would be her age right now, might even be just like her if it weren't for Exodus, everyone he knew was scarred by her, but was revenge really worth all he had done?

He sat down and eyed the little girl, he imagined her dead body, lying on the pavement, his blade stained with her blood. He faltered, she looked so happy, was it really worth all these lives.

Then he saw Sarah's face, her cold eyes looking at him with disappointment, they were still at DEM. Both of them coated in sweat, their eyes fierce. "She must die, spirits have no right to this world." That is what kept him going, what kept him from ending it right then and there.

"Don't you remember who I am?" much further back, the first time he met her, "we know each other, we were even lovers?" he didn't remember, he didn't remember anything, all he knew was that most of his life was missing, taken.

"It was her, a spirit." Further yet, "We named her Exodus, she was the one who wiped out your entire town, killed everyone there, you survived." Kill her, although his whole body ached, although his mind was blank, although he longed to die, he couldn't.

Kill her.

He stood up and walked to the girl, pausing only to draw his blade...

* * *

"Normally we would pop you into a jar, pickle you like an egg, but we can't." He walked around her, taking each step slowly, "You might break out, I highly doubt you would, I mean, this ain't a hotel." He plunged the blade into her hand, twisting it before pulling it back out.

"So we found a great solution, you see, what we do is crush all your limbs, while you're busy healing, we extract as much mana as possible and pop you back in here before you can break out." He gestured, two men rolled a cart in, a large vice sat on top of it, "Let's begin shall we?"

* * *

"No, please, no." He sliced his head off, turning around he saw a figure running, five maybe four hundred meters? Setting his blade straight, he boosted himself forward, impaling him before he could get away.

He checked the satellite image, four hundred left, he looked around. The entire street seemed strangely quiet, "Burn down the forest, draw out the deer." he blew the charges, all around the town buildings caught alight, the flames devouring each building, he could hear screams.

He looked calmly around, a family seemed to be leaving a building nearby, hoping to escape the flames perhaps. He moved towards them, dispatching the entire group, moving on he continued, his mind took control. Instinct guided him, he didn't even think, anything that moved he slashed, over and over again.

Then all seemed quiet, the crackle of the flames was the only sound left, his wiring suit had been stained crimson. He felt no remorse, he simply walked out, leaving the entire village to burn.

* * *

"Where did you bury her Tobiichi?" She stared at him, "We need to know, we believe that he may have been trying to hide something." She continued to observe, unable to decide if she should tell him or not.

"God, why do you have to make it so difficult?" He brought out a file on the screen, it showed satellite images of a small village, but something was off. "This entire village was burned down, its people slaughtered by him..."

Tobiichi watched the flames, it reminded her of three years ago, she tipped her head. She told him to location, nodding, he left the room. She collapsed to her knees, it happened again, another tragedy, so similar to hers.

* * *

"Here she is after all this time, so well preserved too." He watched as the body was excavated, though that may be the wrong term, more like mined. Her body was torn into little pieces, curtesy of their brutal method, cut and pull out.

"Oh Robert is going to be so happy to see her again," he stood over her, "her wiring suit is missing, someone must've taken it." He stood back to full height smiling, "I don't really mind though, so, do we burn it or dissolve it?"

* * *

"We found Exodus Robert, come home."

Robert found himself bound, his wiring suit had been removed, as if to add insult to his weakness all that held him was rope. "It's pathetic how weak you are," Mr. Yaki walked in, he held a box under his arm, "without a wiring suit you're almost useless, a failure like you should've never even dared to intrude upon my masterpiece."

He sat down, his eyes glowed menacingly, "What you would do to kill Exodus, it amazes me how much of a fool you are, tell me, did you enjoy killing Sarah?" He shuddered, he stared at the man, a man who was capable of murdering his own wife and torturing his daughter for the sake of 'changing the world'.

He opened the box, inside Robert could see the head of Sarah, her eyes were closed as if asleep, but her exposed neck removed any calm it could've brought. "You might have realized by now that you're now useless, a burden even." He held the head in his right arm, Robert tried to lunge at him but his body was unable to break his bonds.

"I bet you loved her, I bet you loved her a whole lot..." he fondled the head, then kissed it on the lips, slowly, as if savouring it, "She tastes really good, I wonder how she tasted when she was alive..." Robert tried desperately to break free.

He placed it back in the box, "I'm going to keep it, it must be so nice, knowing someone will love you no matter what, I used to love someone like that you know?" he closed the box, turning around to face him, "She told me that I was a nobody, that I would never account to anything, that I would leave this world like a ghost, it hurt me, it hurt me a lot."

"You think this gives you the right to torture people, to act as you do?"

"Of course not, I had this right when I was born, WE ALL DO." He grabbed his face, stretching his eyes as wide as he could, "Freedom, a gift bestowed upon all of us and I HAD SQUANDERED IT!" He tossed his head back, Robert felt it slam against the chair.

"I'll show her, I'll tell her I'm sorry, I'll change for her..." He started crying, though Robert was cynical to his emotions. "I'll tell her my love again, I'll see her again in hell you know? No perhaps not, she's an angel, an angel..."

His eyes were dazed, it was the first time Robert had seen him lose his composure, it frightened him. "I killed her though, couldn't let her disappear, no, I will keep her by my side forever..." He stood back up, seeming to have calmed a little.

"But first I'll make you pay, I'll make you pay for ruining my masterpiece."

* * *

Robert walked down the hallway, his left arm felt light, his body felt sore, pain reverberated from his every muscle. He stared down the empty corridor, it was late, there were very few people would be up at this time.

Turning the corner he saw a light from one of the rooms, the door was wide open. He walked to the doorway, inside sat a small child, she couldn't have been more than six, yet she seemed to be working on something.

"I can see you standing there, Robert, I think this one was meant for you, maybe?" She turned, both her eyes were bloodshot, as if she had be crying, her eyes seemed tired, "I know it must be difficult to train with only one arm so I made this for you."

She pointed at the object on the table, it was a two feet long blade, in the back it seemed to be completely made of hinges and wiring. "It should work fairly well, though I expect you'll have to modify your wiring suit even further, um sorry, I'll have to modify your wiring suit even further."

She walked over and handed it to him, even with his one arm he could hold it, "It's so light..."

"Of course it is, you wouldn't be able to use it if it was too heavy," she took it back, "You have any family, friends?"

"Yes."

"Nice, very lucky of you," she continued to work, sharpening the blade, programming it to attach, "can I ask you something very, very strange." she turned around facing him with a little smile, "You mind being my test dummy for a few new designs?"

* * *

Robert awoke to find himself in an abandoned warehouse, he still foamed at what Mr. Yaki had done, surprisingly he found himself in his wiring suit, even his arm was attached.

"I'll make you pay for ruining my masterpiece."

Robert slammed the blade into the ground, how dare he, how dare he speak of her in that way, his own daughter. A message blinked, a video, he opened the file, it seemed to be a broadcast to all of DEM's clients.

"We of DEM have supplied all of you with top class weaponry to combat the threat known as spirits, but we have an issue of a different kind here, one of our own has decided to use this weaponry for a very different cause."

An image appeared, an entire village burned down, the one he had burned down. But it was an order, from Mr. Yaki...

"Robert, the personnel responsible for this is called Robert, we believe that he has connections to another rogue personnel, one that stole a prototype combat unit and performed terrorist actions. Right now DEM industries is searching for any possible survivors and any trace of this criminal."

He stared at his own face, a criminal, a murderer...

"A kill order has been issued, his last known whereabouts are here," a map showed up, the location was this warehouse, "Any nearby agencies that can eliminate this threat have been deployed, but if you see him, do not offer him any assistance, kill on sight order has been issued."

This report was time stamped, two hours ago. He stepped out, several dozen small dots moved in the sky, wizards, he clenched his teeth in anger, he couldn't die here, not yet.

* * *

Robert stared blankly at the screen, it was a home video, but he didn't recognize anyone in it.

"That Robert is your father, that's you mother, oh, that's me!"

He gently touched Sarah's face on the screen, he looked so happy with her, he could sense the love between the two.

But he didn't feel anything, he didn't love her, he didn't even know if he could pretend. He tipped his head, tears dripping from his eyes.

He would've preferred to have died, he didn't have the heart to tell her, to tell her to watch the person she loved die, to be brought back, to die once again. "I swear, I swear I will make that spirit pay."

* * *

**This one took a lot longer, sorry, I was taking a huge break. This might be a little late to say it, but any created names are mere coincidence and have absolutely no relation to people in real life.**


	8. Specimen 1

"Magnificent isn't it? This will be the future of our world." He gestured grandly at what had been dubbed, specimen 1. "The first ever artificially produced spirit, all ready for combat." Director Wescott looked almost with boredom.

"All its parameters match those of spirits?" The specimen was awake, it watched them with cold eyes, it punched the glass, but it didn't even come close to cracking, "It doesn't seem to be that strong."

"The glass is the strongest available, a plastic polymer system, plus all his spirit abilities have been neutralized." It's eyes was a strange shade of crimson, they seemed to follow him as he walked out, which shouldn't be possible, the glass was only see through on his end.

* * *

Mana sat there alone, both arms were bound to the chair, she looked blankly around at the empty room.

At least, this was what she should've been seeing.

In fact she was thinking, as there was no tasking assigned she began to delve into her own mind, deeper and deeper she drilled, but there was nothing to find. No memories, just orders, all her life she had done this.

Or had she?

She raised her head as her target appeared on the screen, she felt her restraints loosen, pulling herself up, she felt a new thought enter her head, or rather a new type of thought. Curiosity.

* * *

"Twenty against one and he still had us with our backs to the wall?" The captain looked at them accusingly, they had found Robert, cornered him in fact, but he had fought his way out. "He can't even fly and you say he somehow disabled half of us and then made the other half lose him in the middle of no where?"

Tobiichi could almost still see the town in flames, Robert's cold gaze as he fought through their encirclement, wether he avoided her by choice was unknown, choosing to break through on the far side.

"Find him, DEM funds most of our weaponry and technological advancements, find him now!"

* * *

"Clarun, help, me..." She turned and saw Robert, his left arm was torn apart, but otherwise he looked completely fine, "I need repairs, now."

She looked at him with pretend distaste, sure she wanted to run over and hug the person she pretend to be her brother for the last two years, but he had dismissed her rather heartlessly, "You're not very good at pretending, now please repair it."

She turned away, "What's in it for me?" her voice was shaky, almost weak, "I mean you are a big criminal right now, I don't want to help you without anything in return."

He looked around pleadingly, he needed leverage, he could almost sense them figuring out where he was, the one place where he could repair his equipment. Then he thought of a way, a very elegant way. "You'd trust me no matter what right? I mean I would never lie to you."

She nodded, still turning away, she was such a child sometimes. Watching her work almost made him forget her age, "I know one of your family is still alive, alive and well in fact," she turned around slowly, her eyes almost in tears, so long had she waited, so long she had hoped for this moment, was this really a way out, "A Mr. Yaki, I believe he is your father."

* * *

Clarun spent the next few minutes searching through the data base, using a backdoor she created herself she pilled through a huge list of all employees, Robert had already left and she could care less that he did.

There.

She clicked on the name, one she had never seen before, but it said he had worked there for almost twenty years and his security clearance was high.

Access Denied.

She tried again, this shouldn't be possible, what kind of file could it be to deny her access?

Access Denied.

She pulled out a second device, a dummy account she had made for herself, invisible to anyone who may have been watching...

Enter Access Code:

She stared blankly, an access code for a person? She tried the basic code, it failed, she tried the code for the vault, it failed. "Classified, god damn it," she guessed over and over again, every single one was denied. She looked blankly at the screen, deciding, she typed in her own name, Clarun.

Access Granted.

A small profile came up, but she didn't bother to read it, she looked at the photo, it was him, she was sure. This was her father.

"Found you. Finally..."

* * *

The small figure darted through the streets below her, Robert, Mana aimed her rifle and fired, she heard screaming below, people scrambling away. He dashed through a building and she hovered above.

Scanning the area around she couldn't see him, he must be running somewhere, but where was he?

She looked to find him diving straight towards her, he had climbed straight up the building, using this moment to strike. Clever. She raised her blade to parry, but instead of slashing he dove right past, turing around he threw his sabre, slicing off her left right wing.

She glided towards the roof of the building and landed, removing the flight unit she drew both weapons and leapt off the side. Being only four storeys tall she landed quite nicely on the lower roofs.

"You're so easy to predict." She turned around to find him standing right in front of her, his blade from her back and she found herself vomiting blood. His eyes seemed cold, afraid. "I'm sorry." He pushed her off, though as she fell she felt herself die, she could feel the blood, the impact as she hit the ground, as she closed her eyes memories she didn't have flashed before her. All at once she felt like her world had opened, she could feel that her questioned had been answered.

Dying never felt so alive...

* * *

Robert kneeled in the corner, watching the entrance to the alley, "Damn it, damn it all." A person saw him, looked in curiosity for a while and then walked off. He pulled his hood lower, his left arm was functional, thank god for that, but he didn't have any time to grab ammunition, he chose to ditch his rifle somewhere nearby to draw off the scent.

Sensing he wasn't followed he leaned back and close his eyes, he needed rest, he was going to hunt Mr. Yaki down and dissect him, let him feel a portion of the pain he delivered. "But now is not the time, I must wait, I must hide."

* * *

"Should we test him out?" Mr. Yaki stood behind a one way panel, his eyes drifting over the lab staff, "Um, sir?"

"I really want to see it up close, why aren't I allowed anywhere past here? Sam was it? Open the door." The shaky guy stepped back, he had seen what happened to his predecessors, he didn't intend to follow.

"I can't, but we can watch him fight, see how well he does?" Mr. Yaki walked over to the release panel and pressed, the compartment opened and the spirit stepped out, he eyed the empty room, almost as if he was planning his escape. "Of course, we'll transfer him to a controlled room and set him up against challenges suitable to his abilities."

"That's boring," from his right sleeve a short blade dropped out, in two steps he was in front of him, the blade poking from his chest, "this is far more fun." He smiled in the same way as he always did, delight at what he was doing.

"Where...am...I?" Specimen 1 scanned the room, it was quite open, it seemed his chambers was the only visible object in the room. He looked down at his two hands, he noticed his skin was pale, looking further down he saw he was completely nude.

Though he didn't seem to mind too much, he stared blankly at what appeared to be his body, "Is this, really mine to control?" he held his right hand up and examined it, flexing the fingers he felt his hand move as he demanded it too.

The room hummed with a strange quietness, as if there was something in the air, then suddenly it stopped and he felt his insides tear themselves apart. He knelt on the ground, his legs shaking violently, his hand vibrated faster than should have been possible. Then he found himself able to move again, his previously bare skin was replaced with what appeared to be cloth, he felt his hands glow with energy, power.

His head almost tore itself apart, a stream of impossible to understand commands entered, he screamed in agony as it overloaded with knowledge then suddenly all was clear, where he was, what he was doing, what he must do.

"Apprehend the target," a small squad of DEM wizards entered the room, armed with rifles they fired at him, blocking the door.

He felt his hand rise by instinct, "Aleph", his hand moved and caught every bullet mid air, tossing them harmlessly aside, smoke rose from the fingers he used to push them aside. It should've burned from the friction, but yet he felt no pain, no feeling at all.

"We hit him!" he turned to his right and saw a small trickle of blood from the palm, but as it fell to the ground it rose in a tight stream forming a ring around his arm, "Zayin" he watched as all three of them froze, unable to move, he walked over almost casually and pulled the beam saber from one of their belts.

Using it he beheaded two of the ones on the side, as the last one started to move again he grabbed his head and squeezed, screaming, he dropped his rifle and tried to pull his fingers away, "Yud", his entire head caved in, though he got what he needed.

He made a mental map of the entire building and an hour later found himself outside, alone, peace and quiet. "Now what?"

"I'll tell you, because, I was the one who helped free you." he turned and saw a man walk towards him, he looked like a complete mess and had seemed to have followed him out, "Hello, you can call me, Mr. Yaki."

* * *

**Finally... Hello! I haven't really written anything before, but he's kinda busy so I kinda took over a little. I hope he doesn't mind, he did give me his account details and what he had written before. I wonder if this is what he intended, but I really think that this should come out right now, I really liked this part though...**

**Oh and the part in which specimen 1's powers are almost exactly the same as Kurumi Tokisaki, that's on purpose, I think. Maybe?**


	9. Running out of ideas

Extract from the diary of Mr. Yaki:

Although the specimen is said to have come from that same person, I do not feel it. The anger, the force and the tone from the previous descriptions do not match. In fact as a whole I believe this to be a whole new person, but from where did this personality come from, could it be a result of the treatment or is it some other cause.

It's combat ability has no issues though, highly capable, I'm almost running out of ways to measure his ability, in fact, many seem to go not only off the charts of humans, but spirits we have seen so far.

Although this is all and well, I'm worried about this new personality, could it have an effect on it's power as a weapon? If it is so the programme is highly flawed, for if we can't use them to force the world to bow to our will, to burn it to ash. How can we proved we have changed it? How can we place ourselves undoubtedly as a cornerstone of history?

* * *

Thought, who could think that she was still capable of such an act, had it really have such an effect on her? "I mean, we could reset her, Mr. Yaki did it almost all the time. I'm pretty sure we could do it as well."

"No." He turned off and simply walked off.

"You're not even going to consider? Not even going to let me try?" No answer came, "Seriously I know I could do it, I bet I could!" Still no answer, "She won't be able to kill in this state, she's useless, we need to wipe her clean again."

"Trust me, the next task, will be her last. Once we're done, we'll have all the foot soldiers we'll ever need." He smiled, although he was one of the hundreds who worked here, soon even he would be a king among men.

* * *

Clarun walked down alley after alley, path after path. She knew where it was, she could guess. There was only one place it could be. So long she had studied him, thinking he was dead, hoping to bring him back to life, she studied everything she could, years of memories she could read like a book.

"So he's alive, how wonderful." She continued to walk, although each step hurt her so she didn't mind, she couldn't trust anything to work except herself, so she must rely only on herself. She couldn't let anything stop her, she couldn't rely on anything to act normal, there was only a small chance that this might be the place, but she needed to make this small chance exactly what it is by deleting all possibility of it going wrong.

She continued to walk, until she reached her destination, she followed him once here, carefully. It was actually pretty far and she was pretty small at the time but who cares, it was well worth it. The fact that the building still stood was enough proof that he still used the place.

The door was locked, looking both sides on the street she crouched closer to it. Taking a small knife she quickly stabbed and turned, breaking the lock. Turning once again to watch for any observers, she slipped inside.

The inside of the house smelled fresh, obeviously it had been visted often, she walked through the empty corridors. The entire place seemed blank, empty, there was no furniture, no plants, no pictures. Absolutely nothing except for a smell, a strange, stingy smell. She continued to walk, up some stairs she looked through every room, empty.

Then she arrived at the last one, hidden away in the back of the house she might've missed it herself. Turning the knob she found it locked, using the same technique she broke in. What she found inside was not even close to what she had expected.

Most of the room was empty, one bed in the corner was visibly used this morning, but it was what lay in the centre that scared her. Suspended in a tube was a child, a dead child, her eyes stared blankly back at her, her flesh meticulously well kept. And as if by some devious magic trick, it looked exactly like her, a full naked model of what she knew was her.

* * *

"Help me"

He looked blankly at Mr. Yaki, he frowned, had he said that. It didn't sound like his voice, but it sounded familiar, like he knew the voice his entire life. "Sir, did you say something?" Mr. Yaki shook his head, he seemed to smile, almost childlike in his emotion.

"Help me"

The voice was definitely female, that much he could tell, he'd heard enough screams to tell the difference. This voice, it seemed to be inside his head, it's volume never changed, only it's intensity, as if it was in pain.

It continued on into a constant stream of screams, he covered his ears hoping to block it out, he snarled in frustration as they slowly died down and voice disappeared, he needed to find her, he needed to find the truth.

"Help me"

* * *

"Tobiichi, can you he

* * *

ar me?" she could hear her tap lightly on the door, "We've got another assignment, another spirit it seems."

"Have they found him yet?" she stared blankly at the closed door, cofining herself here she tried to shield herself from anything that brought back memories of that day so long ago, she had nightmares for years and they didn't seem to subside, in fact they grew worse.

"No," she watched the door shake slightly, was she really trying to force her way in? "what are you even doing in there?"

"Nothing." she turned away, and leaned down into her bed, she needed rest. Closing her eyes she saw only the flames, the flames that had devoured so much, the one thing she could remember from that day.

* * *

Extract from the diary of Mr. Yaki:

Well, it took my seventeen times but it's finally done, I've done it. She's perfect, looks almost like her, in fact I swear I could embrace her right now. Every time I hold her it feels like I have a second chance with her, even their names are the same. Sometimes I wish her mother wasn't so smart though, I think she knows, she looks at me funny and many times doesn't let me hug my own daughter. Strange behaviour.

Many times when I hold onto her dead body I can almost imagine her as still alive, still breathing, as if she's been pretending this whole time, she sure looks the part. Oh how I miss her so, but the other sixteen were almost perfect, there were only small issues, I blame it on their mothers, too bad they broke so easily, it's much more fun if they're alive, even if they do look quite different from her.

I once presented the idea to Wescott, telling him about how fragile children are, maybe I can change Clarun, make her special, stronger than any normal human, so she could live through all the fun I'm gonna have with her. I mean, I would hate to ruin such a perfect specimen.

* * *

**Really short, really late, really sorry.**


	10. A Step into the Abyss

"Who's there?" The lone figure continued to walk up to him, he stood up to full height, "Hey, back off." In a second he unveiled his weapon, but at that moment the figure disparaged, seconds later he could feel a tight grip on his throat.

"Robert?" He flinched at this, could he be sent to kill him? Did they find him this quickly? He felt the grip loosen and then release, he crumpled to the ground gasping for air.

"I believe we share a common goal, I require help to guarantee the success of my goal."

He looked up at the figure, it looked human, but something about him seemed off, then he saw it, his skin was red, with blood of another. Slowly he prepared to impale him.

"Exodus." At this he stopped, "I know everything Robert, just help me and I will show you where she lies."

* * *

_Do you really think he won't figure you're lying? Your goals are very different indeed..._

"Shut up."

"Did you say something?" Robert turned towards him, his eyes had changed from hostile to a much softer glance. He hated him, the attitude change when he had something to gain, such lack of morals.

"Nothing." I'm going to kill him when we're done, humans are such pitiful creatures, so weak and yet demand such high amounts of respect.

"But the blade you use, it looks strange, it's made of a physical blade? Are you sure it can stand up to something like this?" He drew his own, granted it seemed impressive, "What is the blade made of?"

"Compressed steel, it's fragile granted, but, watch." He smashed it against the stone, the smooth straight blade broke, instantly he fixed it again, the event was almost undetectable.

"Where's the handle?" he could see the full length of the blade to the end, blood ran down it.

He turned away, hiding the blade from sight, from the sheath only more blade stuck out.

_Remember Mr. Yaki. Oh, how I loved how you mutilated him, that fool, did he really think he could restrain me?_

He flexed his right hand, it felt soiled, filthy. In ways he had just taken the life of his claimed creator, did these actions seem justified, just for a voice in his head.

_Yes..._

Yes, they are.

_You're going to love her when you meet her, she's such a nice, kind, maybe a bit too much..._

The voice was still lingering in his mind, the tones, the softness. He hated it, he wanted to watch that person burn, but somehow he couldn't, she felt almost like family.

_And unlike me, she's real..._

* * *

"Ah Clarun great to see you back, the project is nearly complete you know." She ignored him and continued to walk, "The prototype is amazing, it's almost ready for testing."

"It's not perfect, I made some slight adjustments, here, this should be much better. I'll erase previous designs and apply the new one to production."

"Isn't that a little overboard, do you really hate the current one that much that you're going to go that far to destroy it?"

"Yes, of course I am." With that she left, if what she read was true, she only had hours left to complete the final stages and put her plan in motion.

* * *

"Sir, two targets, they're heading straight for us, they bypassed all quick response security." They could only watch the smoking ruins.

"Impossible, send the advanced guard halt their approach."

"Lieutenant Robert Bailey reporting for duty!" He turned around to the voice.

"Where've you been, we need reinforcements for the..." He shot both of them, as their corpses collapsed tot he ground, he spoke in his communicator.

"Your guess was right, the lower ranking officers have no idea of me, it seems to be a closed circle in terms of my betrayal."

"Good, bring out the squadron you spoke about, tell them to hold this level for our escape, I'll head up to the containment room."

* * *

This was too easy, he didn't actually need his help did he? These men were so afraid of dying, their shots were aimed at protecting themselves, not to kill him. Wasting ammunition on 'covering fire' for what reason?

Slowly, I have to kill each one slowly, I want to see the fear in their eyes, I want to feel their heartbeat as it stops, I want to feast on the fear that they release in their end.

I can't allow myself to feel the same way, I must rid all feelings and possibilities that these feeling could creep up on me. Nothing must interfere with my duty, I cannot allow myself to be afraid of anything.

_Why? Why do you not want to feel fear, yet you consume and spread it like a delicacy, pretty big hypocrite aren't you?_

I don't know, it's just a feeling, everything I do is now based on feelings. I hate it, though it's all I know, without enough information to read the situation, the closest I can get is by following instincts, this I know for a fact.

_Really? Did you really think these feelings are yours? THEY'RE MINE, I AM THE ONE WHO PULLS THE STRINGS!_

Good.

_What?_

Good, I have direction, I have orders, I will follow them as I see fit. Now I have something for a fact, there is a reason behind these actions, therefore they must be for some goal. I have nothing to fear.

_What? You're insane, what exactly do you fear?_

Dying without leaving a footprint, I want to be remembered, wether as I demon or a hero I will not die for no reason.

_Are you insane? You're murder kill and butcher simply because you want to be remembered?_

As long as I live as an idea, I am not dead. Do you not fear this? To fade into nothing, to become non-existent, to truly die? Those who act without haste are by percentage more likely to be remembered, blind charge, blind ambition, fear is the main barrier from my goal.

And therefore I cannot allow fear to ever creep into my heart, this way I'll be remembered forever, I will be immortal.

_You really are an idiot. I give up._

* * *

"Score: 72, you've gotten better Tobiichi."

"Not good enough." She restarted the test and went at it again, "Not even close, must get much better than I already have."

"For what reason?"

"There's nothing wrong with the equipment, in fact, mine is better than everyone else's. It must be my own ability that's at fault. For it is the only area I can improve." She continued on, indifferent to any protests.

"You haven't eaten or rested for three days, you're going to collapse dead at this rate."

"Don't care." She continued.

* * *

"We need to evacuate, he's going to burn this place down at this rate."

"Could he possibly have known? I mean the director, he left only hours ago."

"I don't know, do you really care?" They continued to pack, research notes, blueprints, anything they could pick up and run with, anything to buy them a place back in DEM.

"What about the prototype, should we...?"

"Great idea, it'll buy us some time, in fact, it might be able to take him out."

"And just imagine the upgrades Clarun has in mind, soon we'll have an army of them."

"We already do, she's just upgrading the AI core, once it's done, they'll be ready for deployment. What did we call them again?"

"Bandersnatch."

* * *

"Target acquired, eliminating." Firing a missile at the target's direction, the explosion seemed to miss, strange, the target hadn't seen to move.

"Behind." Dodging the strike from his blade, shattering it with his leg, though it seemed to have reformed, it must be programmed to act that way. Impressive responsive tech, should acquire for study.

"What the hell, you're not human, a suit possibly?"

"Specimen 1, place down your blade and surrender, we promise you will not be killed."

"Does a thing like you really have such power? DEM must be in even more trouble than I thought."

"I am linked into the global server, I have access to all commands and order, so far none have been changed that would cause my previous statement to be false." It stood to full height, brandishing two blades, each exactly the same, orange tipped, it resembled his own.

"Imitation technology, thought it would be fun to see who's better with this kind of weapon." The robot poised itself, it's stance was exactly the same as his, "I bet this will be fun, I really haven't been able to do much locked up."

It dashed forward, he could've sworn that it's eyes flashed in delight.

"Ready or not, here I come!"

* * *

Clarun sat there alone, the room was completely dark, she waited as her updated AI core was uploaded, a reprogramme, a self automated system that would end his plan once and for all.

10%

She had to patient and wait, she had to finish this by herself, though she wondered what she would do afterwards, there really wasn't much was there?

11%

Patience, when she's done, she could worry about the future.

* * *

**Not really much to say is there? Been watching a lot, really disappointed that some ended so quickly. Gonna finish this off soon, though I'm not sure how, guess I'm just buying time for myself to think of an idea.**


End file.
